Late last week we ran a story on how the Google Chrome team had decided to use Gtk+ as the graphical toolkit for the Linux version of the Chrome web browser. It was a story that caused some serious debate on a variety of aspects, but in this short editorial, I want to focus on one aspect that came forward: the longing for consistency. Several people in the thread stated they were happy with Google's choice for purely selfish reasons: they use only Gtk+ applications on their GNOME desktops. Several people chimed in to say that Qt integrates nicely in a Gtk+ environment. While that may be true from a graphical point of view, that really isn't my problem with mixing toolkits. The issue goes a lot deeper than that.

I could list a bunch of apps, but for each app I'll list you'll no doubt name a different app which is similar as some sort of counter argument. And then we'd be stuck arguing over what you're missing by choosing one over the other and start listing features the other app is missing and nobody would have any fun...But what the hell here goes

I like Eclipse for those times when I do Java development. Could I develop Java using a pure Qt or pure Gnome app, sure, but I'd miss Eclipse. There is one small example of what at least I would be missing by being a toolkit purist.

At the end of the day it's a question of priorities. I have no problem running a Qt, gtk and even a motif app all at the same time if it means I have access to what I consider the most effective tools for the job at hand. What I lose in consistency I make up in efficiency.